Candidate forges a new way to good governance
When attorney Larry Farnese announced his candidacy for the state Senate this week, he identified ethics as one of his top concerns.
When attorney Larry Farnese announced his candidacy for the state Senate this week, he identified ethics as one of his top concerns.
"When I get to Harrisburg, transparent and accountable government is going to be one of the main priorities that I work on, right from Day One," Farnese promised a small group of supporters standing at 2nd and Pine streets.
But when Farnese submitted voter petitions last week to state election officials, a requirement for getting onto the April 22 primary ballot, hundreds of signatures were in the same handwriting - apparent forgeries. (See additional story in Clout on the next page.)
Farnese's own campaign manager, Renee Gilinger, acknowledged yesterday that many of Farnese's signatures looked fishy, even to her.
"I actually pulled two of the sheets aside, I didn't mean to submit them," Gilinger said. "Later, when I looked at photocopies of what we'd put in, I said, 'Oh, sh--, how did they get back in there?' . . . It was so nuts trying to get everything done."
Gilinger said that in spite of the bad signatures, she was confident that Farnese has at least 1,000 valid signatures, twice the required number, among the 1,800 submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Her confidence will be tested in court.
Candidate John Dougherty, of the electricians union, sponsored a lawsuit yesterday challenging Farnese's petitions in Commonwealth Court.
Dougherty's attorney, Samuel C. Stretton, said that among multiple signatures in the same handwriting, signatures from people who aren't registered voters, bogus addresses at vacant lots and false affidavits from circulators, Farnese could be left with as few as 200 valid signatures.
Dougherty did not return a call about the ballot challenge. A statement from spokesman Frank Keel described Farnese's petitions as "a blatant ethical lapse" and said the court challenge "represents our promise of bringing good governance and ethical stewardship back to the 1st District."
Dougherty, Farnese and community activist Anne Dicker are all trying to unseat incumbent Sen. Vince Fumo, who faces a federal trial next September on corruption charges.
Similar ballot challenges were filed yesterday in at least seven state House races in Philadelphia:
* Guy D. Lewis, an Army Medical Corps veteran trying to unseat state Rep. Tony Payton, alleged that Payton's petitions were filled with forgeries and the names of dead voters. Payton did not return a reporter's call. Meanwhile, four people filed a lawsuit challenging Lewis's petitions.
* Vanessa L. Brown, a Mill Creek activist challenging state Rep. Thomas Blackwell, said that the two-term House member had used "the same signatures over and over." Blackwell said his petitions "looked fine to me . . . I'm not worried about it."
* Veteran state Rep. Curtis Thomas challenged the residency and financial disclosures filed by his challenger, Lewis Thomas III.
* State Rep. Harold James was accused of improperly signing petitions, stating that he had circulated them personally, when voters said someone else had been circulating the petitions.
* Christopher M. Vogler, a Republican ward leader working for the Parking Authority, filed a challenge against John McDermott, who is trying to unseat former House Speaker John Perzel in the city's only Republican primary contest.
* State Rep. Angel Cruz filed suit trying to knock his challenger, Jonathan Ramos, out of the race.
* State Rep. Rosita Youngblood challenged the petitions of both her opponents, Byron Davis and Arthur W. Barlow. *
